Titleist replaces Hudson crash survivors' golf equipment

Six Chicopee men who survived the Hudson River plane crash received new clubs, shoes, hats and gloves Thursday, courtesy of the Acushnet Co.

DON CUDDY

ACUSHNET — Normally, six guys hitting buckets of Titleist golf balls would not attract any media attention in these parts.

But it was a little different Thursday at the Acushnet Co.'s Manchester Lane test facility. Reporters and cameramen looked on in the light drizzle as the men, wielding gleaming new clubs, sent dozens of balls soaring above the lush turf.

Apart from a long friendship, the six Chicopee men being fitted for clubs also share something truly unique. They all lived through what came to be known as "The Miracle on the Hudson," when USAir Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River on Jan. 15.

The Airbus A320 was bound for Charlotte, N.C., that afternoon when it lost power after a bird strike and plunged into the 36-degree water. The Massachusetts men — Jim Stefanik, Jorge Morgado, Jeff and Rob Kolodjay, Rick Delisle and Dave Carlos — were heading to Myrtle Beach for their annual golf trip.

They escaped the crash but all of their golfing equipment was lost, a fact that drew the attention of Joe Gomes, director of communications for the Acushnet Co.

"We knew that they had lost everything, so we reached out to them," Gomes said. "One of them, Jim Stefanik, is an assistant club professional at one of our accounts, Edgewood Country Club in Southwick. We found out they had rescheduled their trip for April 20, so we invited them to come down."

Each man received new clubs, shoes, hats and gloves Thursday, courtesy of the Acushnet Co. Each club was customized to its user, thanks to the cutting-edge technology deployed at the secluded test site, where every strike is tracked by radar. The trajectory, height, speed and distance attained on every shot appear instantaneously on an adjacent laptop. Even the rotational speed of the ball in flight is measured in RPMs.

As the men chided one another good-naturedly about the shortcomings of their golf swing, it was difficult to comprehend how recent their brush with death — and their narrow escape — had been.

Jeff Kolodjay, 31, whose wife is expecting their first child in June, is director of operations for a pharmaceutical and medical education company. He was waist deep in water at the rear of the plane and was rescued by a ferry, where he borrowed a commuter's cell phone to call home.

"It was quite weird. I've been known to tell tall tales, so at first my wife didn't believe me," he said.

While Kolodjay is ready to put the crash behind him, his thoughts naturally return to that day. "If I'm taking a walk alone, I think about what other people's lives would be like if we hadn't made it — like my mother's, with my father being on the plane, too," he said.

When both engines cut out, the sudden silence inside the plane was particularly eerie, he said.

"I thought I was going to die. Not many people have the realization that they are going to die and the time to think about it. I was thinking, 'How can this happen to me? I'm never going to see my first child.'"

Although he has told his story hundreds of times, Dave Carlos, 34, said he is still happy to share it. "It's therapeutic," he said. "It's certainly changed the way I think about life. Family is all that's important, and the material things really don't matter all that much."

Carlos, who has a 14-month-old child at home and another on the way, is now living every day to the fullest. He has already been back on a plane since the crash. "A lot of anxiety; I won't lie. But I'm young, and I like to travel."

Carlos said the invitation to visit Acushnet was an unexpected surprise, but one that was much appreciated.

"This is a great facility here, and I'd just like to thank Titleist for having us out here and giving us some great equipment," he said.

Letter carrier Rob Delisle, 55, has been playing golf since he was 16.

"It's great to be here," he said. "But if I knew what I know now before getting on that plane, I wouldn't have done it. Nothing's worth going through what we went through."